


As it Was

by captainlesbean



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23049085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainlesbean/pseuds/captainlesbean
Summary: Pandora is Maya's home. Rather than leaving behind the family she's found there, or the best leads she's ever had to finding the answers she's been looking for, Maya stays with the Crimson Raiders. A fix-it fic following the storyline of Borderlands 3, told mostly from Maya's point of view, with some major divergences.
Relationships: Krieg & Maya (Borderlands), Krieg/Maya (Borderlands)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 104





	1. The Wretched and Joyful

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first piece of writing I've ever posted publicly. I'm both excited and apprehensive! I was... disappointed, to say the least, with a lot of story choices in Borderlands 3. I'd been looking forward to it for years, only to be kinda gutted when I played it. So I've been working on this idea to try to fix the parts that upset me the most; namely, Maya's treatment. I guess sometimes spite is the best motivator, since this is the thing that finally lead me to post something I've written! Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A call to action; mistakes are made.

\---

They were on the road when they got the call to action. 

Maya was driving, as she always did, Krieg up in the turret seat. She had the radio blasting, Trigger Finger roaring above the technical's engine. She beat out the drumline on the steering wheel while Krieg bellowed along to the words. The grill of the technical was decorated with varkid guts, and they were returning to the new HQ with the biofuel they'd been sent out to find. 

It was a good day. 

Maya was looking forward to cracking open a bottle of Moxxi's rakk ale in she and Krieg's room back at base. She'd probably do some studying, he'd probably take apart and clean his guns, or maybe work on that rusty metal sculpture he'd started. He was surprisingly artistic. Much better than all those bandit murals to Markus or that shitty new cult.

When Lilith's voice projected into both their brains simultaneously, she knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. 

"NGHHH. THE BEACON'S LIT. HERE COMES THE CAVALRY!" 

"I hear ya, big guy," she called out to him. "Hold on to something!" 

The technical gave a massive roar as she hit the accelerator, and then punched into the boost. Despite the sudden circumstances, she couldn't help but laugh at the way Krieg hooted and hollered from up in the gunner's nest. 

Lilith's call was an emergency, one they'd all been preparing for since Ellie and Janey Springs had started collaborating on that beast of a ship. Guess it was finally time. 

When they first started hearing the rustling of a new bandit clan growing, none of the Crimson Raiders had been worried. Bandit clans grew and fought each other for dominance all the time. If they moved too close to Sanctuary, the Raiders took them out. No slapshod group of bandits could threaten the group who'd taken down Handsome Jack five years prior. 

Not until about two years ago, when the New Pandora Army showed up and took Sanctuary. 

Suddenly homeless, their floating city destroyed, they all paid attention to the growing bandit cult, then. Maya had documented it all in her echo logs, and it told a pretty grim story. She should have known not to get cocky. But, damnit, they'd all been through so much and come out on top, it had felt good to celebrate that. 

She could feel the rumble of the ship's engines vibrating through the ground even through the rattling of the vehicle. Things must have progressed quickly, she thought, and not for the better. She wondered, wryly, if they would have been left behind had they been farther out. 

The moment she pulled the technical into a sliding stop, Krieg leapt gracelessly from the gunner's nest like a great, loping dog. He waited for her to climb out, then the both of them took off into a headlong run for the ship. 

"Just in time," Lilith called out grimly to them. Her expression was harrowed. "The COV aren't going to let us leave without a fight. Be on the lookout." 

"MY SKULL IS ALL EYEBALLS! I SEE EVERYTHING!" 

"You think they're going to try and stop us?" Maya asked, unconsciously laying her hand on Krieg's forearm. 

"I know they are; I can hear them chattering on the echo. We're just waiting on the newbies and we can take off. Better get in and get settled." 

"NNGH, SHUT THEM UP, SHUT THEM UP!" 

"I wish we could," Maya answered, leading him toward the passenger ramp. "I don't exactly like running, either, but we don't have much choice." She rubbed his back in what she hoped was a soothing manner. 

"Right, that's as good as we're gonna get her, short notice like this."

Maya would know that distinctive Elpysian accent anywhere. Janey Springs, the former Vault Hunter Athena, and Ellie all filed out the same ramp she and Krieg were heading up. 

"Wish we could've had more time, but she'll fly," Ellie said, her chest puffing up with pride. "Now, you two take care down here, ya hear?" 

"You're not coming?" Maya asked, surprised. "Aren't you worried about all this cult bullshit?" 

Athena shrugged. "I'm not a vault hunter anymore." Maya couldn't tell if she heard resentment or relief in her low, deadpan voice. "And Janey's a mechanic. We're not exactly targets." 

Janey patted Athena's back, and Athena leaned, maybe unknowingly, into the contact. "Don't worry, love. We'll have plenty of work to do, holding down the fort here." 

"DON'T SWALLOW THE SCREWS, THEY'LL EVISCERATE YOUR THROATS!" 

"Be careful," Maya added, sharing a tense look with the both of them. It was dangerous where they were going, but dangerous to stay on Pandora, too. It was, after all, the nest where the COV was born. 

"We'll be alright," Athena assured them. 

"You be careful, too," Janey said, her expression as grim as her wife's. 

They nodded their goodbyes, and Maya and Krieg followed Ellie into the ship. 

"MAYBE THE GARBAGE PEOPLE WILL FIND OTHER FACES TO SIP BLOOD MARTINIS OUT OF." 

"I hope so," Maya said, nodding to Ellie as they passed her. "I guess us leaving with the map will take some of the heat off them. Who knows? Maybe it'll actually be… kinda peaceful with us gone." 

That earned a snort and a laugh from her companion. 

"THE DOGS ARE ALWAYS AT WAR, EVEN BEFORE THE MEAT PUPPET PARADE, THE PURPLE PERFORMANCE, OR THE YELLOW _HUGGGHHH_ IN THE SKY." 

Maya snorted. He was right, of course. But he didn't have to completely ruin her attempts at pretending. 

"Well, at least those twins won't be breathing down their necks." 

That, he seemed to agree with, since he just grunted and kept walking with her. 

The interior of the ship was surprisingly homey. Someone had been busy furnishing the place, stringing bottles and lights from the ceiling and pipes. It was sort of dim and she knew immediately that she'd start to miss the Pandoran suns, but for now, it was a bit of a balm not having them beating down on them. Everyone was rushing around, readying the ship for takeoff, and Maya found herself unsure what to do. Get on the ship, Lilith had said. So, then what? 

Krieg looked even more lost than her, which she'd sorta predicted. He'd frozen in place, twitching with the effort of standing still, his one visible eye darting about. He never did well in enclosed spaces. 

She laid her hand on his forearm, squeezing in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "Come on, big guy. Let's find our room." 

He breathed out, brought out of his spell, and followed her lead.

"I think passenger rooms are supposed to be-" 

She jumped embarrassingly high with a wholly undignified squawk as an alarm suddenly blared throughout the halls. 

"What the hell?!" On instinct, she reached for her SMG, Krieg already gripping his axe, swaying with pent up, manic energy. 

"It's the COV, miss… Vault hunter… ma'am!" A crew member called, running toward their station. "They're attacking!" 

"Shit. Figures!" Maya spat, already running back the way they'd come. "Oh well! Time to kick some more ass, Krieg!" 

Krieg cackled in delight, running headlong behind Maya, though he quickly overtook her. Most people were running away from the entrance ramp, against the two vault hunters, but they quickly got out of the way of a charging psycho. 

They met Ellie at the now closed garage, trying, fruitlessly it seemed, to get the blast doors open.

"They jammed them on us, them sons of bitches!" She raged, worry clear in her voice. "Lil's out there!" 

"What?" Maya breathed, her stomach sinking like a rock. "What's wrong, how did they corner her like that? How'd they get her alone?" 

"I dunno, sweet cheeks, but we gotta do something!" She cursed and threw her wrench down with a deafening clatter, audible even over the blaring alarms. "Don't you break down those doors, or we're in a world of hurt!" She yelled an admonishment at Krieg, who'd raised his axe to wail on the steel doors. 

"Guys, stand back," Maya said, regaining her calm. "I've got this." 

A jammed door, even one of reinforced titani-steel, was no match for a Siren, after all. Her tattoos flared with a surge of power and light, a blue sphere crackling around the door. With a grunt of effort, she lifted the massive weight. Sweat glistened on her forehead. 

Krieg rushed out. 

"GET READY TO TASTE MY TEETH, CHILDREN!" He roared gleefully, launching himself at the surrounding bandits. Moze, Amara, and Fl4k's skag barreled after him, followed quickly by Zane and Fl4k themself. Maya wavered slightly with the effort of holding the story-tall door aloft. 

She caught a glimpse of a couple of figures in the middle of the field before them, two upright and one prone. The two quickly disappeared in a blinding flash of fire. A fire that looked very, very familiar.

Oh, shit. 

Maya's stomach dropped. It was Lilith. The prone form in the dirt was Lilith, looking for all the world like… 

No. 

"Ellie…" Maya grunted with the exertion of holding the house-sized garage door open. 

"I got you, M, get out there! I'll echo that crazy doctor of ours."

Maya didn't need to be told twice. With a mighty growl of effort, she released the door, lunging forward before the thing crushed her into the ground. Bullets whizzed by her head, and all the shouting and screaming and the coppery scent of blood grounded her, made her single-minded. 

She'd learned to find clarity in the heat of battle. She was a warrior, and this, another form of meditation. 

She launched into a slide, skidding in behind Fl4k, who'd taken up a defensive position in front of their downed commander. Lil was in bad shape, but still breathing, and that's what mattered. "Lay me down some cover fire," she said, hefting Lilith up onto her feet. She was barely cognizant, but she could stand, so Maya slung Lilith's arm over her shoulder and wrapped a steadying arm around her middle. If she went slow, she and Lilith could hobble up to the catwalk. 

"Heard loud and clear," Fl4k said, their glowing eye never leaving the battlefield. 

It was an agonizing slog. Maya's shield ate up bullets from bandits not distracted by her teammates, but it would hit its limit soon. Not having the time to concentrate on a kill, she caught hold of individual bandits charging them and flung them away with her phaselock. She was quickly tiring, though. 

"Come on, Commander," Maya gasped, her voice ragged, "you've got to help me a little, here." Lilith mumbled something and stumbled. What had they _done_ to her? 

"Okay, on second thought, just… try to stay upright," Maya grunted. They were almost to the set of stairs that lead to the catwalk. They could do this. 

She heard a bone-chilling shriek of glee from behind them. The pounding of boots in the dirt grew louder and she began to summon the last of her magic. She'd used so much. She was exhausted. Lilith was nearly comatose. 

"Cats for the skinning! I'm gonna suck the marrow from your-" 

Maya had spun, keeping Lilith propped up with her hip and half an arm, her fingertips flickering with weak blue sparks, only to find that the charging badass psycho had already stopped. A still-whirring buzzaxe sprouted from his cleaved skull. The bandit swayed, dead on his feet, then collapsed in his own gore. A much more comforting cackle came from the side of them; Krieg leapt over the railing of the stairs. 

"Hey, big guy," Maya panted, smiling gratefully, "thought you forgot about me with all that blood-feasting you were doing." 

"NEVER!" He grunted, bracing his foot on the dead man's skull so he could pull his axe free. "My ventricles are eternal!" He chuckled, low and gurgling. Maya thought it was sweet. 

"I'll cover your hides," he promised, already facing the horde again. 

"Thank you," Maya said, her chest tightening a little. She hefted Lilith close again and began the agonizing process of getting their mostly-unconscious Commander up to the catwalk. "Be careful!" 

His answer was a joyful war cry as he barrelled forward to join the other vault hunters. 

It was lucky, Maya thought, wiping sweat from her brow, that the Calypsos had left. Their brainwashed followers were easily distracted, barely noticing the extra Vault Hunter and the leader of the Crimson Raiders slipping away. 

Next time, Maya was going to make sure that it was _their_ arrogance that went punished. 


	2. Idealism Sits in Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crimson Raiders do their best to regroup. Things get kinda mushy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this on Friday so I could say I update on the first Friday of the month, but alas. Maybe I can just say I update on the first weekend of the month lol
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy, please leave a comment telling me what you think <3

\---

"Oh, my god. Lilith, what did they…?" 

"I don't want to talk about it." 

Her words had bite, but Maya couldn't fault her. Her arm, her side… they were bare. Her entire left side was completely bare, as tan as the rest of her skin. 

Her tattoos were gone. 

What did that mean? They were born with them, all Sirens were, how could they just… suddenly be gone? Whatever the Calypsos had done, it was more than beating Lilith into the ground. How had they gotten her alone, how had they trapped her? Why hadn't she just phasewalked through the locked door? She wanted to scream out these questions but kept them to herself for the time being. Not around all the crew, anyway. 

"You should probably be laying down at this point, Lilith," Tannis said from her side of the main computer, where a projection of their location displayed. 

"I'm fine." 

Seeing as how she was hunched against the casing of the computer, every move provoking a grimace, Maya guessed that she really wasn't. But she kept that to herself, too. 

"If you're not immediately needed to get this ship off the ground, you need to get to your rooms. This is going to be… less controlled than I'd like," Lilith grunted, holding her side. The flight team were swarming quickly to their stations, and emergency takeoff warnings flashed on all available screens.

Maya knew a dismissal when she heard one. She didn't like it, but she headed to the passenger quarters with the other Vault Hunters all the same. 

"They stripped Burning Bird," Krieg rumbled, quieter than his usual shouting. His inside voice, Maya always called it. He was still coated in blood and viscera. 

Amara surreptitiously met Maya's eyes; she was sure they shared the same feeling of unease. 

You'd think having three sirens on the same side would give them one hell of an edge, but it was suddenly occurring to Maya that maybe having all of them together was a little too convenient for their enemies. 

The ship began to shudder and they all stumbled, Moze falling to the floor with an undignified curse. 

"I suggest we hold on to something bolted down," Fl4k said, locking the joints in their legs to keep steady. Amara grunted as she helped Moze back to her feet. 

The ship shuddered and suddenly tipped, throwing them all down the hallway. The ship rattled all around them, fighting through Pandora's atmosphere. They gripped each other the best they could and tried not to get crushed beneath the things that _weren't_ bolted down. Maya didn’t even see the cabinet about to split her head open before a blue, spectral fist smashed it out of the way. 

Eventually, the turbulence settled and left them in various states, strewn across the hallway like toys dumped haphazardly on the floor. 

Krieg shook his head like a dog and sat up, refastening the half of his mask that had come undone. Maya heaved herself onto her ass with a groan, prodding herself for injuries. She wasn't bleeding, so she considered that good enough. 

"Everyone okay?" She asked, her voice an uncertain croak. 

"Whole, it looks," Zane grunted, remaining on his back for the time being. Fl4k threw an affirmative gesture, and Moze untangled herself from Amara, sheepishly it seemed. "Yeah, uh. All good." 

**_“What is up, brothers and sisters?”_ **

Maya jolted, her heart trying to beat out of her chest. The speakers screeched as Tyreen’s broadcasted voice echoed down the hallway.

**_“God queen Tyreen coming to you live. We got something real special for you today: your number one most requested murder. It's the great heretic herself, the Firehawk!”_ **

Suddenly, the screens that had flashed warnings before switched to a video feed. They looked curiously up as ridiculous music and stock chicken sounds blared.

Krieg reacted first. He stumbled over to Maya to help her up, making an animal growl deep in his throat. Maya put her hand over his back, heedless of the mess, staring up, transfixed. Text displayed over the video, but she was too stupefied to read it. It was of Lilith. Being thrown to the ground, kicked in the stomach, held by her throat. The video sped up, rewound, played again, all with that inane music playing over it. At the end, the Calypsos posed with Lilith's unconscious body, and the charged vault map, like a hunting trophy. 

A clear message to their followers: the Crimson Raiders were already as good as beaten.

The hall was silent when the video cut off, all of them staring up at the blank screen. Maya felt sick to her stomach. 

Krieg wrapped an arm around her. Whether it was conscious or not, Maya appreciated it and leaned into him. 

"That's… sick," Amara broke the silence. 

"PUTRID PROPAGANDA," Krieg agreed. 

"If you guys will… just excuse me," Maya said, pulling gently away from Krieg, "I'll be right back." 

After wandering the halls of the ship for what felt like ages, she finally found Lilith in Tannis's infirmary. She was sitting up in bed, clearly arguing that she was fine, she didn't need rest. Wordlessly, Maya crossed the room and put her arms around Lilith. 

"Hey, what-" Lilith sputtered, stiffening. Then, in a surprising display of vulnerability, she slowly melted into the touch. Maya was grateful. She couldn't think of what to say. She'd just known she needed to see Lilith, confirm for herself that she was still here. The embrace was partly to comfort Lilith, but also to comfort herself. Her friend was solid, alive, even if she was battered. 

“That… sucked.” For all Maya’s studying, the years spent researching, reading, meditating, she never could find the right words to say to comfort someone. 

Lucky for her, Lilith only laughed, a quiet and tired thing. “It’s okay, killer. I’ve been through worse.” 

And she had, Maya knew. She recalled that terrible day down in Control Core Angel; After the awful, tragic thing they’d had to do to stop Handsome Jack from charging his vault key, Roland had been taken from her, and then Jack had captured her, done… things that she never spoke of, and that Maya would never ask about. 

That didn’t mean that what had just happened to her was nothing. 

Maya sat down on the bed next to her, clasping Lilith’s hands in her own. Tannis had turned away to work on something on a desk across the room, clearly uncomfortable with the displays of affection. Maya was just glad she hadn’t asked them to leave; it was probably because she’d finally gotten Lilith to sit her ass down. 

“How did they get you alone, Lilith? Why didn’t you Walk through the door?” 

Lilith made a soft sound of discomfort, another tired chuckle. It held no amusement. “That… was a stupid plan. Well, it… did work, but I didn’t realize…” 

“The consequences,” Tannis finished for her, turning around to face them, but not getting closer. “I told you, Lilith, the risk was too great. Now, look at you!” 

“I had to let them think they had me!” 

"It was asinine, foolhardy, hotheaded-"

Maya cleared her throat. “Uh. Anyone wanna fill me in, here?” 

Tannis huffed. “Our Commander thought to deceive the Calypsos by making them think they’d taken the Vault Map from us, in the hopes that it might buy us some time before they came after us. But, despite my warnings, she insisted it had to be _her_ they caught.” 

“I wasn’t going to use someone else as bait, Tannis.” 

“Wait, wait-” Maya tilted her head, looking from Lilith to Tannis. “They did get the map. I saw it… in the broadcast.” She saw Lilith wince a little. Everyone had seen her humiliation. 

“That was a false duplicate,” Tannis said, fluffing with pride. “Artfully crafted by yours truly. Almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Until, of course, they try to use it.” 

“Which, hopefully, they won’t do right away.” 

Maya shook her head, Lilith’s hands still in her own. “Oh, Lilith. That was…” 

“Stupid?” Lilith smiled ruefully. 

“Yeah.” Maya couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. 

“I know. I should have listened to you, Tannis. I just… knew they’d come after us. I thought, if they got what they were looking for, or thought they did, we could get away. No casualties.” 

“Except what they did to you.” Maya gingerly touched Lilith’s bare forearm. Lilith allowed the touch, looking down at her arm. 

“...Yeah. Except for that. I… can’t explain it. I meant to get away once they had the fake key, act like I was cutting my losses, but…” She made a face and ran a hand through her blood-matted hair. “When she touched me, it felt like when… that collar, you remember?” 

Maya nodded. 

“Like… I couldn’t control my body anymore, let alone my powers. She was just… draining me. Before I blacked out, I thought…” Her expression was harrowed as she stared off into the corner of the infirmary. “But then… I saw that garage open.” She looked up again, meeting Maya’s eyes. 

“I never thanked you for saving me. You and the others.” 

Maya shook her head. “There’s no need. You’d have done the same. Any one of us would. We’re a family.” 

Lilith dipped her head, a little smile pulling at her mouth. “Still. Thank you.” 

“Yeah. You’re welcome, Firehawk.” 

Lilith winced again, but didn’t say anything. Maya regretted her choice of words, but it was too late to take them back. She was still the Firehawk, though, powers or no. She was a badass. Maya cleared her throat again.

“Did you let B-Team know you’re okay?” Mordecai, Brick, and Tina had gone with Hammerlock some months ago to look into the Vault on Eden-6. “That video…” 

Lilith let out a little breath of air through her nose that Maya supposed might have been a laugh. “Mordecai already echoed. I told him ‘radio silence’. Obviously, that fell on deaf ears. I'm sure I'll get an echo from the Pandora crew soon, too, even though I told those three to lay low.” 

Maya honestly doubted Axton, Gaige, or Salvador even knew the meaning of 'lay low'. 

“Well, given the circumstances, I think any of us would have done the same. It… looks bad, Lilith.” At least she’d had the benefit of knowing Lilith was alive before she saw the video, and it was still pretty devastating. She could only imagine what the others would feel.

"...Yeah. I get it." Lilith let out a tired sigh.

There was a heavy silence before Tannis clapped her hands and snapped them out of it.

“Yes, yes, we’re all a big, happy family, and we're all happy that Lillith is alive,” Tannis said, crossing her arms. “But I really must ask that you leave, Maya. I have to make sure that she will remain that way. I’ve never studied anything like the leeching the Calypsos have done.” Suddenly, she looked… almost giddy.

Maya wished they had a doctor of _medicine_ on board. Or, at least one who understood the difference between 'patient' and 'test subject'. She grimaced at Lilith, who merely shrugged. She stood, leaning over to kiss the top of Lilith’s head. Lilith accepted the affectionate gesture with another tired smile. They wouldn’t show this kind of affection in front of the crew or even the new Vault Hunters, but among their closest confidants, Lilith was Maya’s friend, not just her Commander. 

“I’ll head to my quarters, then. Krieg is probably wondering where I went.” 

“I’ll let you know when we’re close to Promethea. We’ve got a bit of a trip ahead of us.” 

Maya nodded and walked out the door, which slid shut behind her. She stood there a moment, her shoulders slumping. This was worse than she’d thought. She knew that the so-called god queen sucked the life out of her victims, and Lilith had been foolish to face off with her alone. Even more so with the brother being there, too. But, this? Stealing a Siren’s powers? That was a new one, and a dangerous one to boot. She clenched her fists.

When she saw the Calypsos again, there was going to be a reckoning. 

\---

She found Krieg playing cards with the new Vault Hunters in a communal area between all their rooms. They sat on two patchy couches with what looked like an old picnic table between, with strung up bottles with lights in them overhead. It was… altogether, sort of homey. Reminded her a little of the Crimson Raiders HQ back on Sanctuary. The first Sanctuary, rather. 

“RRRRGH… YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!” Krieg threw his cards down and pouted. 

“Dude. We’re playing Stinkpit. What the hell are you talking about?” Moze snorted. 

“No, no, see, your hand trumped his. He’s just a sore loser,” Zane joked, setting down a card of his own. 

“AM NOT!” 

“Well, you don’t see the rest of us shouting and and throwing our cards, do you?” 

“I’LL EAT THE GOO RIGHT OUTTA YOUR EYEBALLS!” 

“I would like to see that,” Fl4k said, feeding the jabber on their shoulders some of the table snacks. 

“Yes, please,” Amara said, setting her cards down, too. “Anything to distract me from this awful game.” 

“Whatever. You guys are just mad I’m wiping the floor with you,” Moze grunted, collecting everyone’s cards. One dropped on the floor, only to be snuffled up into Fl4k’s skag’s greedy maw. 

“Aw, man, come on,” she lamented. 

“Don’t worry. That will come back out," Fl4k assured her.

“I’m not gonna want it back, then!” 

Krieg broke off from glaring at Zane the moment he noticed Maya standing at the threshold of the communal space. His eye crinkled as he turned to face her and Maya knew he was smiling behind his mask. The knowledge warmed her. 

“Oh, hey, Maya. How is the Commander?” Amara asked from her seat on the couch. 

Maya shrugged. “She’s recovering.” 

Amara nodded and gave a wry grin. “Good. I had hoped the voice in my head wouldn’t be beaten so easily.” 

Maya snorted. “It’ll take a lot more than a couple megalomaniacs with an echonet channel to take down the Firehawk. We’ll be ready for them when we get to Promethea.” 

“SO MANY NECKS TO SNAP, SO LITTLE TIME!” 

“I’ll drink to that!” Zane quipped. 

“You’ll drink to anything, old man,” Moze shot back. 

Maya chuckled under her breath. She liked these guys. 

“So, um. I’m gonna turn in, now. Let me know if something exciting happens.” She waved and headed down the hall to she and Krieg’s room. Krieg looked back at the others, then followed behind her. Once safely behind the closed door, Krieg behind her, Maya sagged, worry and exhaustion taking over. Broad, strong arms wrapped around her middle. She sighed and leaned back against a muscled chest. She felt Krieg push his mask up, and then he was burying his nose into her hair. 

"Mggghm. You're pickling my liver," he rumbled from deep in his chest. 

"I know, I'm sorry." She closed her eyes and reached up to touch the side of his face. "Five years ago, I would have thought this was exciting. Some grand adventure, a chance to test everything new I'd learned. Now…" she drew in a slow, practiced breath. "I'm… afraid." At the admission, she turned and buried her face in Krieg's chest. He squeezed her tighter. 

“Here, my sweet meats. Why would the axe be afraid when it can maim, and shatter bone, and slice the veins, and drink down my heart?” 

"Because, they took Lilith's powers. We've faced down death and destruction, losing our home, and we've come out alright, and yet… this scares me. I'm angry, and I can't wait to kick their asses, but I'm scared. I don't… know what I would do. I know that's selfish. I'd never say it to Lilith, but… would I even be a Siren anymore? Would I be me…?" 

Krieg made a low, grunting noise and brought his huge hand to the back of her head, stroking the stubble there. "Still cold, blue steel," he rumbled. "Still books and bone shards and bullets and hunger, shrieking war cries and dripping blood and thought juice onto the jagged rocks below!"

Maya couldn't help but smile, sagging further into him. "...Thank you, Krieg. You're really sweet." 

He slipped his arm beneath her thighs and hefted her up into his arms. She squawked in surprise, but relaxed in his arms a moment later. 

Krieg could be handsy. He showed affection physically, with nuzzles and lifting and embracing. She hadn't been used to so much touching, back when they'd first become friends. Became something… different. The Monks hadn't exactly been huggers, even when she was a child. She'd been put off at first by the touching. Krieg had been polite, though, and backed off when she showed discomfort. Slowly, though, she'd started seeking that contact from him, craving it once she'd gotten a taste for it. 

Now, touching came easily, and she was grateful for that. 

She hadn't realized she'd been starving.

"And I will always be your meat maestro, baring my rib cage for your shiny knife! Even if the flesh is pale and bare!" 

Maya blinked away the sudden, swelling moisture in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him sweetly on the brow. She let out a heavy breath, trying to release the tension and fear weighing her down, and rested her forehead against his. 

"Oh, Krieg. I love you so much." 

"My lady, forever and ever." 

She would meditate tonight, she told herself. She would sit in the dim, warm room, and reflect on all she'd learned so far. She would consider her place in this team, how she could best utilize her strengths, and those of her teammates, to survive the looming war. To prevent the COV from opening the great vault and bending the galaxy to their will.

In that moment, though, it was enough to be held in Krieg's arms, their foreheads pressed together in silent, loving warmth. 

It was enough not to face the threat alone.


	3. Feel Like a Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krieg gets introspective in the guts of Sanctuary, then finds himself again in Maya's arms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's where that E rating comes in! Heads up for sexual content.

"I hate going down here."

"I know, it reeks. Oh, god, when's the last time  _ that's _ been cleaned?"

"No, no, it's not that. This place, it's…" 

"What? Stop wringing your hands like that. You look like a varkid about to barf. You know, they do that every time they land, it's really-" 

"...It's  _ haunted _ ."

"Haunted? Like… ghosts?" 

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not crazy! And I'm not the only one, either. Ugh, there's a reason we always get stuck on this detail." 

"Because you slept with Rosie's mom and dragged me down with you by association, and no one else wants to fix the shit pipes?" 

"... I mean, yeah. So, haven't you wondered why we get duty down here, and not, like… cleaning the bathrooms behind the bar?"

"It's probably just because they wanna get a glimpse of Miss Moxxi while they work. Lots of jobs I'd take if I could spend some of my shift watching her."

"No, that's not it. People have… heard things. Like… moaning, and whispering, shouting, even! And this sort of… shuffling? Like something's crawling out of the pipes." 

"You're working yourself up." 

"Oh, come on! You haven't heard Greg and the others talking? Listen, this ship is made with old Dahl rigs. All those scientists got left behind, and they went crazy. I don't know, like they dug up something they shouldn't have, and they all lost it. That's just a recipe for a haunting."

"You got the shivers or something? That's obviously just- wait. What was that?" 

"What was what?" 

"That sound, it was… you know what? Let's let Benny's crew take care of the leak. It's… more their department anyway. I've got, ah, other shit I have to do.  _ Upstairs _ ." 

\---

Krieg wandered through the underbelly of Sanctuary III, picking his way through the long, intestine-like pipes that carried the thing's lifeblood. And also its shit. You could smell it down here, tons of human (and animal, thanks to Fl4k's little pack) sewage, but Krieg didn't mind much. Nosy nuisances didn't stare at him down here. Not as many, anyway. A few still came down to work, only to scatter like roaches when they saw him hunched over, having a pleasant conversation with himself. It wasn't his fault they didn't know it was rude to eavesdrop. 

Most of the old Sanctuary citizens didn't bat an eye at him anymore, but all this new flesh they'd picked up looked at him with disgusting, tantalizing fear. 

How he'd love to tear out their eyeballs and show them those looks, see how they felt, then! 

But he wouldn't. And not just because the Little Man wouldn't shut up about it. Terrorizing undeserving didn't sound as fun anymore. 

"THAT’S called character growth," he said proudly to a rusted pipe, thumping it with a massive hand. The sound rang out around him, traveling down the length of the metal and making his teeth grind. It reminded him he was in a big metal canister hurtling through space. A  **really** big canister, but still claustrophobic. Still just a layer of metal separating him from the void. 

He growled, hunching his shoulders and shaking his head, beginning to pace in agitation. "I don’t WANNA be a salty sardine! They never leave the tin closed!" He huffed and snorted, then made himself sit. Calm down time. He drew in a ragged breath and expelled it forcefully through the filter of his mask. 

Big breaths that filled out his lungs, just like Maya showed him all those years ago, to remind him where he was and where his feet touched. 

He missed dirt under his feet, the suns beating down on his bare back, clambering over jagged rocks. Biting into bloody meat he'd butchered himself. All they had was packaged protein rations. He missed his friends stationed back on Pandora, and on other parts of the Borderlands. He missed the cackling gun man, the red mech, the tiny one; though, the latter wasn’t all that tiny, anymore. He missed bird man and the slab king. He missed the pretty turret humper and the one who talked in stupid poems.

And he missed ripping bloody chunks out of the garbage men! He was built to maim and rampage, not sit around in this tin can and wait! 

He liked the new maim team; the metal pack leader, the runt soldier, the tiger, and even the pickled old Flynt (even though he was a putrid liar). But there was only so much stinkhole he could play before he set himself on fire, and the Little Man was fond of reminding him how bad fire was in the big tin can they were all in. He was bored, he was frustrated. He was too big for his own skin.

He growled and thumped his hand on the floor just to feel the light sting. 

_ You know, instead of moping down here in the garbage chute, scaring the crap out of the maintenance crew, we could go be social and see Moxxi. _

"I'M NOT POUTING!" 

After pouting for an appropriate time, he picked himself up. He could already feel his spirits rising, despite his earlier ire. He'd always liked Moxxi. She'd been kind to him right from the beginning, maybe because she dealt with bandits on the regular. Maybe not psychos, but she'd been able to tell right from the beginning that he was different from them. 

Even if he sounded and acted like them. 

He ignored the looks this time as he climbed up to the regular walkways, following the sound of lively, jazzy music and the glow of neon. 

"Hey there, sugar. Nice of you to come visit me." Moxxi threw him a smile from over the counter, serving a couple of civilians some brews.

"I'VE GOT A SMILE IN MY POCKET!" 

The other patrons jumped at his mighty volume, but settled as Krieg sat down at Moxxi's bar and she reacted with only a smile. 

"Is that all? Well, then. I'm impressed." 

"MY GULLET CRIES FOR LUBRICANT!" 

"Oh, you have such a way with words. Of course, sugar. This is the last of it until we dock on Promethia, sadly, so you savor this." 

Krieg pulled up his mask to sip as carefully as he could, but still ended up guzzling down half the mug of ale. He watched Moxxi parade about, taking care of the other patrons, pouring drinks with a such skillful efficiency that he couldn't help but watch and marvel. 

She was very good at her job.

He was already feeling a little better with a belly full of ale and being in Moxxi's company, when she sauntered back over. She leaned over the bar to speak to him in conspiratorial tones. 

"Say, sugar. You wouldn't be open to running a little errand for me once we land, would you? I think you'll like it." 

Krieg leaned in, his interest piqued. So far, he'd felt chafed at the lack of things to do. Right now it was all Lilith and Tannis and Maya planning and looking at that map, and while the little man might disagree, that was  _ boring. _ If Moxxi thought he would like something, chances were that it would involve some bloodshed. Which meant yes, he would like it, thank you very much.

"You see, there’s a celebrity bandit named Killavolt who’s hosting a livestreamed fight to the death in Promethea’s Seaport District…”

\---

_ See, I told you. Now we have a job to look forward to, and lots of necks to snap.  _

"Shut up!" 

_ You know I'm right. If you would just - oh. She's back early.  _

He'd palmed open the door to their room expecting it to be empty, but Maya sat in the middle of the room, on the floor, a book in her lap. She looked up and the smile she gave him was transcendental. His heart stuttered in his chest. 

He'd known her for years, now, and they'd been together only a little less than that. Every time he saw her, he fell a little more in love. She made being on this claustrophobic tin can worth it. She made him feel like his skin fit right. She was his home.

Maya set her book down and stood to meet him. She looked exhausted. The circles under her eyes were dark. He wondered what she and burnt turkey and the twitchy doctor had been talking about in that improvised war room. 

"I'm so glad you're back. Today was… Mm. I missed you. I know it's only been several hours, but..."

Krieg wrapped his arms around her, lifting his mask enough to press his nose against her shoulder and breathe deep. She returned the embrace, sighing softly against his ear. This… this closeness, the deep throbbing of his heart and the ache in his chest, his arms around her and her arms around him… it was better, even, than violence. 

He loved violence, but he didn’t have the words to describe how much more he loved Maya. 

“Hi, big guy,” she said, her voice low and sweet. Her voice melted him. 

“My aching ribs,” he mumbled back. 

“Yeah.” She settled a hand over his chest, tilting her head up to touch their lips together. Krieg’s chest burned for her. She broke the kiss a long moment later, lips brushing his still. “Hey. Do you want to come to bed?” The way she said it, the way her fingers tightened around the back of his neck, keeping his head close, made her meaning damn clear.

Krieg groaned low in his throat. 

He lifted her, dragging his tongue over her lips and into her mouth, and settled the both of them onto their shared bed. She giggled and pulled him close, sucking on his tongue and biting his lip. 

“You’re so messy,” she said fondly, her nose wrinkling.

He peeled her armor off of her while she kicked off her shoes, then they worked him free of his buckles and braces and, finally, his mask. Her hands on his face were a balm for all the discomfort and the pent up, manic energy inside him, and for a moment, he merely let her hold him like that. Then her lips ran down the line of his jaw and he moved. He settled atop her and kissed a sloppy line down her throat and collarbone, huge hands finding her soft breasts. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. 

“I didn’t realize how much I needed this,” she whispered, lips and teeth grazing the shell of his ear. “Please, Krieg.” 

He would do anything she asked. 

He pinched and flicked her nipples, finding the crook of her neck and sucking fiercely. She laughed breathily and arched against him. He moved downward, replacing one hand with his mouth. His tongue dragged over her flushed, taut nipple. He sucked it into his mouth and when he nipped gently, she gasped and jumped. He felt her legs wrap around his waist and he pressed himself down so she could grind up against his abs. 

“Please. Like that.” 

Her voice was beginning to waver, becoming breathy and disjointed. He ached for her, his insides throbbed. He kissed down the little swell of her stomach, down into the coarse, damp curls at the base of her abdomen. Her hands rested on top of his head, nails pricking just slightly. He’d let her rip his head right off his shoulders. 

“Open wiiiiiide, pretty lady....” 

She gasped and spread her legs for him, exposing her flushed center. He drew his tongue over her soft lips and parted her, tasting her warm musk. He craved her flavor, her heat, the way her body would quiver under him. His hands settled on her hips and he pulled her closer by them. He covered her with his mouth, tongue seeking and finding her entrance. He dipped his tongue inside and she sighed, nails dragging sweetly over his scalp. 

He moved to her clit, next, deep pink and bared from beneath her hood. He fitted his plush lips around it and sucked, which made her breath stutter in her pretty throat. His tongue moved in rhythmic little circles and her moans grew louder with each. When he grew momentarily distracted and moved his mouth, she whimpered a little plea.

She was soaked, slick from her entrance down between her ass cheeks, with more wetness dripping along that path. He chased the fluid with his tongue, wishing he could open his mouth wider or grow more tongues so he could taste more of her at once. Her breaths grew louder, her body quivered beneath him. Her hands tightened around his head. 

He gazed up at her with bleary eyes, the soft glow of her tattoos searing him deep within. 

“Krieg, please.” 

He turned his hand and brushed a finger against her entrance. She gasped and her muscles spasmed visibly. His eyes darted up to gauge her reaction. She nodded hastily. 

“Yes. Yes, that’s good.” 

His finger slid in with ease. She immediately clutched at him and he moaned in sympathy. She was hungry, his fierce maiden was starving, and he could no more deny her than he could tell himself to stop breathing. A second finger quickly joined the first, and he licked his lips as he watched her arch further off the bed, her whole body taut with pleasure. 

“Please, Krieg. Please, I need-” she cut herself off with her own desperate whimper. 

That was okay, because he knew what she needed. He curled his fingers and stroked her from the inside, moving to take her clit in his mouth once more. He built up a rhythm, worshiping her with fingers and mouth, and her cries grew louder and louder. 

“Oh! Fuck, oh Krieg, oh, fuck-” 

The noise she made was like a dying animal. It was so beautiful Krieg could have wept. Her nails dug into his scalp and his shoulder and he reveled in the little bites, working her as her body went taut and rigid. 

It was only when she sagged and fell back to the mattress that he stopped, slowly pulling his fingers out to suckle her juices off of them. She had her face covered with her arm, panting and smiling into the open air. He rested his cheek on her soft thigh, watching her with rapt attention. 

“You fill up the holes in my chest cavityyyy…” He groaned up at her, eyes hooded with longing. He ground himself down into the mattress, mouth falling open with a ragged pant. He could have happily spent himself into the sheets while basking in her afterglow. 

She pulled gently on the back of his head. “Up here, big guy. You don’t need to hump the bed,” she laughed softly. “Come here.” 

He happily obliged, clumsily crawling up her body. She scooted back a bit, propping her head and shoulders on their threadbare little pillows. He was a little unsure of what she wanted until she grasped his hips and guided him forward. She gave him a cheeky little grin and he felt like maybe his heart stopped. Then, she drew her tongue along the underside of his cock and he was  _ sure _ his heart stopped. 

With her encouragement, he braced his hands on the head bar and slid his hips forward. Her blue lips closed around him and he made a low groan pulled all the way from his toes. He laid a shaking hand on the top of her head, staring blearily down at her. Her mouth was around him, her cheeks hollowed slightly, and there was a little sheen of sweat on her forehead. She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. 

Then, she looked up and met his eyes, held his gaze as she tugged on his hips to pull him in further. He lost his mind all over again; what he’d regained of it scattered into the air. He let out a low, guttural sound, rocking his hips to start up a halting rhythm. Her mouth seared him and her eyes blew him to pieces. 

He tipped his head back and panted up into the open air, beginning to lose himself. A particularly deep thrust suddenly made her gag and sputter wetly. Krieg immediately pulled back, looking wide-eyed down at her. 

“I… A sweet shock, I’m sorry, SO SORRY, M-” 

Maya sucked up some of the saliva that dripped from her lips and laughed breathlessly. “It’s okay. You’re fine. Keep going.” 

Krieg made a ragged sound and ran his thumb over her wet lower lip. She laughed again and his heart bled. She guided his hand back to the top of her head and opened her mouth. He had no choice but to take that invitation. 

He slid between her lips once more and felt her tongue press up along the underside of him. He grunted and twitched in her mouth, throbbing and dripping for her. His hips picked up their rhythm again, and soon the cabin was filled with her wet, sloppy sounds and his unintelligible pleading. 

"SWEET… SWEET AGONY, NNNGH, THE FIRE'S COMING…!" 

Maya bobbed her head forward and took him down to the hilt, and he was lost. He made an animal sound as he spilled down her throat, the head bar creaking in his grip. 

He pulled away and she gasped for air, and he sunk down to kiss away her saliva and his mess that dribbled down her chin. She smiled, still panting, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him to her so that his weight pinned her down into the bed. 

"My chest burst open," Krieg rumbled, stroking her head. "Mgh. My blood is burning, melting blue." 

Maya ran a hand over his head in turn, her eyes fluttering closed. There was a soft, sweet smile on her face, her hair a wild halo around her head.

“Aw, Krieg.” Her voice was low, a little scratchy. “I love you too.” 


	4. Told Before and Told Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya, reluctantly, confronts some of the skeletons in her closet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm posting this amidst 1: an ongoing global pandemic, and 2. some incredible civil unrest in the US. I wasn't really sure if I should post this chapter right now for fear that it might... distract?? from the important protests going on right now. But maybe that's giving myself a lot more importance than I really have? So I'll compromise: I'll post the chapter but not advertise it on my social media for now.

"You can't ask that of me." 

"Maya…"

"No! I can't go back there." 

"They're asking for you. They won't let us down unless you go." 

"So… go down without their permission. It's not like Maliwan's waiting for clearance!" 

Lilith gave her a hard look. Maya refused to be cowed. 

"... You know why I can't go back, Lilith. How do I know they don't want me back to hang me for what I did?" 

"You'll have four vault hunters at your back. I'm sending Amara and the others with you." Lilith's face softened, and she laid a hand on Maya's shoulder. "I wouldn't ask this of you if we didn't need that key fragment. We can't let Maliwan get it to the Calypsos." 

Maya knew that. Maya knew she had to do this. There was more at stake than her wellbeing. Worlds were counting on that fragment; or, at least, keeping it from the COV. 

That didn't make it an easier pill to swallow. 

So she found herself, almost ten years later, passing through the same tiny station she'd left Athenas from that fateful day. She had expected to come back one day, just… not so soon, and not in the middle of a war. She'd imagined taking Krieg with her, taking him to her old haunts, showing him the place that, for a while anyway, had been her home. 

She wished Lilith had sent him with her. She could have used his comforting presence while dealing with the ghosts of her past. Of course, having four highly skilled vault hunters with her was nothing to sniff at. 

She just missed Krieg, was all. 

Between living on Pandora, which was always a wasteland, and an isolated ship drifting between worlds, Maya really hadn't seen the effects of the war. She saw them, then. 

They passed silently through the little station, now in shambles. Clothes, shoes, belongings alike were scattered along the road, like people had left them in a hurry. As they neared the Order of the Impending Storm stronghold, they began to pass bodies; monks and regular civilians alike. Most were hastily covered or packed into body bags, dragged haphazardly out of the way. Many were not. Maliwan had clearly torn through the land with impunity. 

The others were quiet, as though in some kind of deference to her. It felt… strange. This hadn't been her home for a long while, now. It was awful to see the damage, but… she wasn't sure if she had a right to claim that it was personal. Did it feel personal? She didn't know. Much to reflect on, she mused. Later. Much later.

"It's… odd that nobody has met us yet," Amara said, breaking the quiet. "They were so adamant that you come." 

"Maybe, uhh… maybe we should prepare for the worst," Moze hedged. 

"The monks spoke with Commander Lilith only days ago," Fl4k pointed out. 

"Let's not count them out, yet," Maya said. "Come on. Just up this road is Stormhaven Square. They might have retreated behind the walls." 

They walked the worn road until they came to an ancient stone gate, a heavy circular door in its center. It was… quiet. Not a single bell ringing. No monks chanting outside, no civilians making pilgrimage. The whole place seemed to be holding its breath, eerily silent. It gave Maya the creeps. 

She drew in a steadying breath and squared her shoulders. She felt the strength of the others at her back. She could do this. 

She stepped forward and placed her hands on a long, ornate rod suspended by chains. She furrowed her brows and swung the rod, ringing the bell to announce their presence. The low, clear tone reverberated long after she'd struck it, that teeth-chattering vibration she suddenly remembered so well. 

For a moment, nothing happened. 

"Well. I hope we haven't just let Maliwan know we're here," Zane muttered. 

Before she could respond, a transmission came through her echo. 

_ 'Maya. It has been a long while, indeed.'  _

Maya's chest constricted and she swallowed. 

"Brother Harker." Her voice came out barely a rasp. Suddenly, it was seven years ago, she had Brother Sophis's blood on her cloak, the rest of the monastery telling her she'd doomed them all. 

She very nearly turned back the way they'd come. 

_ 'So much to tell you. Unfortunately, it will have to wait. We are under attack. Come to the main square immediately.'  _

Then, a command over all their echos. "Open the gate! Let them in." 

The ancient gate creaked open along its track. Inside, the injured huddled against the facades of the buildings, taking shelter beneath the awnings. The dead were piled into more body bags around the square periphery. They must have mostly been civilians; Maya didn’t think there’d ever been that many monks living here in the stronghold. 

She let out a heavy breath. 

“Damn,” she head Moze mutter behind her. “No offense, but why the hell did they only want you? You’d think they’d take any help they could get.” 

“Why would I take offense?” Maya asked, weary already. “Practicality hasn’t, uh, traditionally been a strong suit of the Order.” Her gut roiled. If she had refused to come, they would have let all these civilians keep dying, wouldn’t they? Stubborn, callous. 

What was worse was that she was beginning to feel the bite of guilt. If she hadn’t left, then maybe Maliwan would never have gotten a foothold here. She was supposed to protect the people of Athenas. She was their savior. This death was on her hands. 

She shook her head angrily and shouldered her gun. Brother Sophis had done a number on her, and it chafed that it still got to her like that. None of this was her fault. She hadn’t asked to be exploited, used as some tool of oppression disguised as a protector. That had been all him, and the other elder Brothers, and she’d put a stop to that all on her own. 

Their echos suddenly crackled with the voice of a panicked monk. _ "They're back! Please, they're at the gate, you must stop them!" _

"Well," Moze said from behind her, already deploying her massive Iron Bear, "time to do what we do best!" 

"You know, I could really use the stress relief," Maya agreed. "Let's go kill some Maliwan sons of bitches." 

\--- 

After taking out two separate Maliwan battalions between the five of them, Maya felt a little more like herself. She was right at home with violence, and working with a team to maximize that violence. It was especially thrilling to work with another siren again; with Lilith directing all their forces on Pandora, Promethea, Eden-6, and now Athenas, she wasn't doing much field work these days. That, and… what had happened to her. Maya and Amara had come up with a truly devastating combination of their powers. While Maya held a foe aloft in phaselocked stasis, Amara would obliterate them with a massive astral fist, spawning from the ground like a raging thresher.

It was just the kind of stress relief Maya needed. The only thing that would make it better was if Krieg were here to see it, to fight alongside her. 

They returned hours later, bedraggled and exhausted, but triumphant. Maliwan wasn't going to try to storm the gate in the night, not with the five-person-army that had obliterated those battalions staying in the square. 

Maya was almost ready for it when Brother Harker met them at the gate to Stormhaven, requesting an audience with her. 

She never felt like she'd be one hundred percent ready for it, though. 

Amara met her eyes and palmed her fist in a wordless promise to have her back. Maya couldn't help but laugh as the rest of her team were led to their temporary quarters. It may have been a joking gesture, but Maya knew she meant it. That bolstered her as Brother Harker led her off into another part of the monastery.

\---

Maya was on the defensive. Brother Harker didn't try to engage her in small talk as they walked the halls, and for that she was grateful, but it only gave her longer to assume the worst was coming. Would the Order try to execute her now, after using her help? 

"Come, Maya. Sit with me, here, so that we may talk." Brother Harker's voice was even more grizzled, now. The man must be nearing eighty, Maya imagined. Warily, she sat down on the bench next to him. For a moment, all they did was sit in silence, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves, the gentle ringing of wind chimes. 

She did miss that sound. Not enough to want to come back, but, still.

"I thank you, Maya, for answering our distress call," Brother Harker finally said. 

"Would you have denied the help if I hadn't come, personally?" 

"No, Maya. We would not have." 

Maya drew in a frustrated puff of air. It had been a bluff, after all. She should have just told Lilith- 

"We would not, however, have shared the location of the Key Fragment with anyone but you." 

Maya let out her breath. 

"It is sacred, as I'm sure you know, and it is only in these dire circumstances that we even consider parting with it. Even then, only to you." 

"I don't understand. Why didn't I know about this fragment all those years ago? And why would you want it to go to me, after what I did to Brother Sophis?" No use mincing words. Brother Harker had been there. 

"Maya… we owe you an apology." 

Maya's breath caught in her throat. She'd been wishing for those very words for years, now. Maya, they'd say, we're sorry. Maya, we wronged you, and we wronged our people. But she never actually believed she'd hear them. 

“Yes, it was Brother Sophis who led the Order into what it was all those years ago, but we went along with it. Some of us simply turned a blind eye to what we were doing because it led to such prosperity. Some of us agreed wholeheartedly with what we were doing. We were, all of us, wrong.” He sighed heavily, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. 

Maya remained silent, but her heart was pounding. 

“Maya,” he said, settling his glasses back on his nose and finally turning to look at her. “I am sorry. We are all sorry.” 

She swallowed. “I, ah…” 

“You don’t need to accept, or to forgive. I only wanted you to know.” 

“Um. I thank you, Brother Harker. It… means a lot.” 

He nodded, gazing back out over the trees. “After Brother Sophis, our Order has changed. It was necessary. We strive, now, to truly be leaders for the people of Athenas, not subjugators. Those that didn’t agree with our new direction were… shown the way out.” 

Maya snorted. 

“I know that this is a lot to take in. I do not expect you to simply accept what I’m telling you. I hope, however,” he said, once again meeting her eyes, “that you will be able to see for yourself the changes we have made.” 

Maya was silent for a while. He sounded sincere enough, but he was one of the very same people who had manipulated her for years, who’d turned her childhood into one big lie. She wanted to believe him. But she’d learned the hard way just how good people could be at lying to her. Finally, she simply nodded. 

“Thank you,” Brother Harker said, “for listening. Now, as for your other question, about the fragment… What do you know of the Anchorhold?" 

Was this a trick question? "It's a grave site. A tomb. Nobody's supposed to go in there." 

Brother Harker nodded. "Yes, yes. That was what the elders told all the acolytes and initiates. It was what most of us truly believed, too." 

Maya waited. More lies. 

“After the chaos of… your departure had cleared some, myself and a few other elders went to his study to collect his personal effects. We found his journal. Of course, the dead require no privacy, so we read its pages.” 

“Of course.” She was only being somewhat sarcastic. 

“Among other things, we learned the true nature of the Anchorhold; it is not a tomb, but a… temple, of sorts. No, no, not quite a temple, perhaps… more of a shrine. From the people who came before the Order.” 

People  _ before?  _ All the teachings, all her books on the subject, they all said that the Order of the Impending Storm were the first people to settle on Athenas. She felt herself reeling for a moment, before a bitterness crept in. Of course even those most basic teachings were lies. 

“Not one of us knew. And where did Brother Sophis come across this knowledge? Who can say? But you, Maya. You were always part of his plan.” 

She bristled. 

“The journal went on to describe the process of opening the Anchorhold. It can’t be done by any normal means. The door cannot be beaten down, nor broken with any weapons I know of. All who tried to dig beneath it found only more unbreakable stone. Perhaps it stretches down into the very core of the planet. Who can say?” 

“...So, it's not that we shouldn't go in there, it's that we  _ can't _ ? Nobody's been inside?” They’d always been taught that it was where the most revered in the Order were laid to rest. It was where she assumed Sophis was buried. 

Brother Harker shook his head. 

“Why lie about something like that? Why not encourage exploration, discovery? Maybe someone could have found a way inside, found out what’s in there-” 

“My chi-” he stopped himself. Maya felt her blood run cold, heard it pulse in her ears. It took a conscious effort to calm herself. 

He continued. “To answer your latter question, it appears that Brother Sophis did know what was inside. And your former, well; we couldn’t have our subjects learn that there were things out of our control, could we? Things that we did not know? No, our subjects needed to continue believing that we knew all, that we controlled all. All the better to keep  _ them _ under control. Keep them from questioning the Order."

Maya felt sick to her stomach. She’d learned the hard way that the Order were not the benevolent rulers she’d always been taught they were growing up. Still, to hear it admitted in plain speech… 

“As I said. We are attempting to make amends. We have a ways to go, but we are trying. You deserve the truth, Maya, painful as it is for me to say." 

She let out a slow breath. “So… how was I going to fit into this?” 

“Ah, yes. Brother Sophis wrote that you were to be a sort of key. Your Siren powers would open the Anchorhold, and he would take the treasure inside: the vault key fragment.”    
  


Maya ran her hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. All she'd ever been to the man who took her in was a tool. Her whole life, he was using her; this new knowledge proved it more. She wondered… she’d been told that she had been orphaned, left at the doors of the Abbey, and raised by the monks out of the generosity of their hearts. She hadn’t thought to question that in years. But… how long had Sophis known he’d needed her powers? Was it after her arrival? Could it all be one big coincidence? Or had he been looking for a Siren before that? Could it be that she hadn’t been orphaned and abandoned, but… kidnapped? 

That… was something to contemplate at another time. Not in the middle of a war. She was here to do a job, not seek answers. At least, not to those questions.

"... Alright, then. I guess the only thing to do is kick Maliwan off this planet and then open the Anchorhold. Easy." She stood, a little more abruptly, a little less controlled, than she meant to. She paused. 

"...Thank you, Brother Harker," she said, without turning to face him, "for telling me all that. If you'll excuse me, though, I need to be alone." 

"Of course, dear Maya." 

She could feel him watching her as she walked away. 

\---

Maliwan had gotten quite the foothold on Athenas, essentially laying siege to the Order's stronghold. Stopping Maliwan turned out to be a little more complicated than showing up, killing some bad guys, grabbing the fragment, and getting out of there. It was a lot of defending, stabilizing, bolstering. The Crimson Raiders’ presence was really making a difference, though. 

Had Maya's time on Athenas been like this before, maybe she wouldn't have left. Certainly under different circumstances, in any case. 

They set her up in her old room, and though the monks, and herself by extension, weren't really into material belongings, there was still enough of herself in there to feel… nostalgic. Some of her old books, her robes, a pair of shoes she’d loved when she was younger. It was… strange being around them again. She’d reread a few chapters of one of her favorite books, one she’d left in her bedside drawer that was still there, before laying down to sleep. 

Despite her physical exhaustion and feeling as though she might, finally, be making a difference for the people of Athenas, sleep was… proving to be elusive. Her mind wandered despite her best attempts at quieting it through meditation. Every little change in the moonlight filtering through her window, every little sound, brought her back to full awareness. Being in the Stronghold, hell, just being on the planet, brought back uncomfortable memories she'd much rather forget.

It was painful to admit, even to herself; she had once seen Brother Sophis as a father figure. He was stern and not given to affection, but wasn't that just the way of fathers? She'd looked up to him. She'd loved him. She'd thought him so wise and so good. 

It had taken years for that belief to be shaken. The bitter truth was that she'd still believed he loved her up until the moment he'd commanded her to kill an innocent man. 

The image of that stranger's terrified face was etched permanently into her brain. The way he'd looked up at her, the way he'd recoiled and babbled in fear over the very sight of her. 

That was when she knew that Brother Sophis did not love her as his daughter. He thought of her as a possession, a tool he could use to bend his subjects to his will. 

She groaned and rolled over, stuffing the pillow over her head. She should meditate more, she thought. She needed to clear her head. This place was bringing up all her buried feelings of resentment and betrayal and guilt, and she just wanted to sleep.

...Maybe her hypervigilant brain was trying to tell her something. 

There was a persistent rustling, a little scuttling that sounded like it came from the corner of her room. Sounded like a ratch had gotten in (the infestation here had gotten out of hand). She drew in a slow breath, then sat bolt upright, lashing out and grabbing the interloper with her phaselock. Just before she threw the thing out the window, it called out. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Put me down, I wasn’t doing anything!” 

She was so surprised, she almost threw the girl out the window anyway. 

“What the hell are you doing in here?!” she still held her in her lock. The girl was young, maybe 12 or 13, though she wore a hoodie, making it difficult to see her face. 

“I wasn’t doing anything! I was just passing by! Put me down!” 

“...You were rooting through my bag. I thought you were a ratch.” 

“Oh, that.” She laughed nervously. “No, I was just…! Listen, I wasn’t going to snatch anything. Can you just put me down?” 

“How about you explain yourself, first?” Maya’s expression was guarded. This was a particularly bad time for an intruder to creep up on her, as raw and on-edge as she felt.

“I-If you put me down, I will.” 

Maya made a face. Well, sending a thirteen year old girl into an alternate dimension for breaking into her room didn’t sound like an especially reasonable reaction, so… Grudgingly, she set her down on the ground and released her from the lock. 

“Okay, you’re down. Now- Hey!” 

The girl took off in a headlong run the second her feet hit the ground. Maya threw the blankets off and barrelled after her. She was fast, and she’d had a head start, but Maya was a highly trained Vault Hunter. 

...She repeated that to herself as, turn after turn, the girl evaded her. 

"Get your ass back here!" Maya yelled, not caring if she woke the whole monastery. Hell, they ought to know there was a snoop in their midst. 

The girl took one turn just a fraction slower, and that was all Maya needed to gain on her. With a mighty grunt, Maya took a flying leap and tackled her to the ground. 

The girl yelped and kicked out, but Maya had her pinned. 

"Knock it off! You're lucky I don't feel like throwing you off the cliff," she growled. 

The girl cursed, but stilled; Maya let up, just a little. 

"That's better. Now, what the hell were you doing in my bag? If you took anything-" 

"By the Storm, what is going on here?" The incredulous voice of Brother Paolo cut her off. 

"This ratch was skulking in my room while I was asleep." 

"I wasn't-" 

"Young Ava, is this true?" Brother Paolo demanded.

Maya sat back, releasing the girl with raised brows. "Wait, she's-?" 

"...An acolyte, yes. Now, child..." 

The word itself, even when not directed at her, made Maya nauseous. She stood and dusted herself off to cover her reaction.

"Explain yourself. Maya is… an honored guest," he said, arms crossed over his chest, the picture of parental disappointment. Ava stood, cowed. She grumbled something and pulled a book out of her bag. 

One of Maya's books. 

"I-I just wanted to look at it, I swear!" Ava said, avoiding Maya's gaze. 

Annoyed, Maya took it back. "While I was sleeping? With the door closed?" 

Ava shrunk back even more and shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "...I was gonna give it back. Its dumb, anyway. I couldn't even read it." 

Maya opened her mouth, then closed it on whatever biting remark she’d have thought to say. Instead, she drew a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Just… stay the hell out of my stuff. I'm done, here." 

She left Ava to her well deserved lecture at the hands of Brother Paolo. She just wanted some god damned sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This is not going to be an Ava-hating narrative.


	5. You Are a Call to Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krieg gets a job, Maya makes a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thanks to icthyosapien (@thespacegravy on twitter) for editing this for me! Any mistakes/weirdness are solely my own c:

Krieg was good at this. 

After taking out Killavolt, slaughtering his way through hordes of COV, and causing complete mayhem on Promethea, Lillith had finally given him a new task; infiltrate the COV. He'd jumped at the chance to do something, to finally get his fingers in someone's eye sockets again, rather than languishing on Sanctuary. It was easy to join the ranks of the COV; just a new mask and the Little Man finally shutting the hell up were all it took. He'd gone up to a marauder in the process of barking orders, gotten in his face, and screamed, "I WANNA SIP SOUP AT THE FAMILY TABLE!". After pissing his pants a little, the squad leader had been happy enough to welcome Krieg into the fold.    
Krieg would sabotage where he could, but carefully. Mostly, he would be there to collect intel. There'd be an agent who'd meet him at an undisclosed place and time, there'd be a secret phrase and encrypted echos and nothing sent over the net… which was why the Little Man just shut his mouth for a while and stayed put.

For Krieg, screaming about meat and poop was really paying off. 

There was only one problem: he missed Maya. He hadn't gotten a chance to say goodbye before he left and they hadn't been allowed to send each other echos while she was on Athenas; it was too easy to intercept their messages, too easy to pinpoint their locations. Sanctuary, though equipped to defend itself, was really just a big civilian ship floating secretly outside the orbit of a planetary warzone. It needed to stay a secret. Lives depended on it. 

Even as the Little Man saw the logic in it, Krieg still ached with the knowledge that Maya would come back and find him already gone. 

The only thing he could do was throw himself into his work. And he was very, very good at his work. 

\--- 

The "family unit" Krieg had joined was led by a big, blustering raider named Mudguts, and they were often tasked with running supply lines out to other COV outfits across Meridian. He was relieved he didn't actually have to fight the locals. Occasionally, parts of the loot they were supposed to be transporting got 'lost', and found their way into the defending civilians' hands. Nobody suspected the tower of muscle who jabbered on about butt deserts had anything to do with it.

"Brother! We have been called to battle!" 

Krieg, snapped out of his reverie, turned to regard the bony, masked man who'd loped into view. Black-Eyed Gus, he remembered. 

"But I'm already eating sardines!"

"We are called to fight alongside our God Queen's chosen allies! Maliwan will meet us at sun down. We must not keep them waiting! Oh, I can already taste the glory!" 

"Bathe in the meat chunks!" Krieg tried to put as much excitement into it as he could. 

"That's the spirit, brother!" Gus clapped him on the back. "We'll cleanse this planet for the Twin Gods! For the Great Vault!" Gus wailed out in frenzied delight and scampered off, spreading the word. 

Krieg could see the news travelling, could feel the ripple of excitement grow throughout their unit. So much for the easy gig. Now he'd either have to find a way to sabotage this raid without blowing his cover, or kill a whole lot of undeserving. 

_ You know we can't kill innocents _ .

"I don't know anything! Shut up!" 

_ We used to be good at coming up with plans. Remember? It's been a long time, but I know it's in there. _

"Nngh! Herald the poop express!" 

_ Fine, but think while you do that. Most of the resistance on Promethea aren't even soldiers; they're just people fighting for their home. And they're losing.  _

\---

"Hey." 

It was a timid sound, but determined, too, as though the person it had come from had worked themselves up until they finally had the courage to speak up. 

Maya turned a guarded look toward her doorway. The kid from the other night, Ava, stood, her hands stuffed into her pockets. She was trying too hard to look nonchalant; Maya could see how stiff and nervous she was under her airy demeanor. 

Before Maya could decide how to address the would-be thief, Ava spoke up. 

"L-listen, I'm sorry I snuck into your room. And went through your stuff. And, uh, took your book." 

Maya waited, a brow raised. 

"It, um, it wasn't cool, and I won't do it again, and, as a peace offering, do you wanna play 'Battle Cars' with me?" 

Maya blinked, taken off guard. The kid pulled a little console from her pockets and held it up to show her. She looked so earnest. Vulnerable. Maya remembered what it was like to grow up in the Abbey. It was boring, it was lonely. There hadn't been anyone else her age around, and she'd been sequestered away from the kids living in the cities surrounding Stormhaven. The monks weren't much in the way of a family; always quick to give you a lesson, but not much for bonding or affection. 

She saw Ava’s gesture for what it was; a peace offering from a lonely kid. 

"... I've never played before. Will you show me?" 

The look on Ava's face could have lit up the whole room. She scrambled over to the little tv and quickly connected her device. She pulled two controllers from her hoodie pockets (how big were those things?) and handed one to Maya. It was, perhaps, not the most productive thing to do with the brief respite a recent Maliwan retreat had afforded them, but that was alright. The other Vault hunters were probably relaxing, too. 

"Okay, so it's a racing game, but you pick up all these cool power ups you can hit the other players with. Look out for the blue claws, those are the best, they blast the first place player right off the map. And then there's the green chesto peels, they make the wheels stick. Then there's…" 

Maya couldn't keep track of all that Ava was saying, but she was clearly excited about it, so Maya pretended to follow along. She was worlds different than the little brat who'd stolen her book the other night. Maya was glad she hadn't tossed her out the window, after all.

Even if she did wipe the floor with her every damn round. 

\---

"Alright, you slobbering idiots! Here come the Maliwan reinforcements, so pull up your pants and look sharp! If you embarrass me, I'll feed you your own feet!" 

Mudguts' voice, amplified by the little mic bot floating near his head, boomed out over the squad of twenty or so. Krieg chattered and cheered with the rest of the assembled cultists. 

The cheers rose to a deafening level as a group of Maliwan soldiers made their way down the stairs of the old subway tunnel the cultists had claimed. Krieg hated the sight of their polished armor and their disciplined march. It set his teeth to grinding and his fists to clenching. 

They reminded him of Hyperion, and in that moment, it was all he could do not to let loose with his thirsty axe. 

Mudguts approached the Maliwan sergeant (who looked visibly disdainful), and they uneasily shook hands. The rest of the groups stood apart from each other. It was easy to see that this alliance was an uncomfortable one at best. 

_ Good. That's something we can use. _

Krieg clicked his teeth together in agitation. This milling around, this waiting and talking and planning, had him on edge. They needed to move already. 

"What?!" He heard Mudguts cry. The Maliwan commander said something hushed, then Mudguts let out a nervous laugh. 

"It doesn't matter, let them have their toys. We won't need reinforcements. It's just a bunch of hobos and shopkeepers. They're nothing!" 

The Maliwan leader said something else, but Krieg had stopped listening. The resistance must have set up their signal jammers, set to a frequency that the eggheads had figured out from one of his encrypted echos. That meant that either this force would turn back (unlikely), or they'd head in with no chance of help. No signal meant no calls for backup, no status updates, no emergency evac. 

_ No chance of other witnesses, either. We can do this.  _

Krieg made a guttural sound in response.

\---

Just as he'd expected, their force did not retreat. Krieg and the COV bandits moved forward with a frantic, undisciplined energy, climbing over rubble and running ahead in short bursts. The Maliwan troops formed a hard line and marched, never changing pace. Krieg hated the look of them. He caught himself pausing to stare at them, swaying slightly, imagining what it'd be like to crack open their helmets like eggshells. Get to the gooey headmeat inside. 

_ Maybe later. Focus! _

He snarled and galloped ahead, joining Gus. 

"Do you see their lights?" Gus cackled. "They're hiding in those blown-out buildings! Oh, such easy pickings! They'll be trapped inside!" 

Krieg let out a guttural, rumbling chuckle. He would have answered, but the sudden, piercing snap of a sniper's shot split the air around them. Gus's head disappeared in a bloom of red. Krieg scrambled gracelessly for cover as Gus's body convulsed and dropped to the concrete. 

"KILL THE HERETICS!! FUEL FOR THE GOD-QUEEN!!" 

The bandits began a headlong charge, tearing at the barricades protecting the base (and entrance) of the building. Krieg watched as a shrieking few began to scale the sides, only to be shot down when the rebels noticed and fired on them. 

Still huddled behind cover, he turned to look back at the Maliwan squad. Their leader barked at his troops as they deployed a road block behind them. Two soldiers stayed with the leader after the barricade was set up, and the rest marched forward. They formed ranks and started shooting through the windows where the rebels were sheltered. He heard screams. People in tattered clothes toppled from the windows and landed with wet, crunching sounds as their bodies broke against the concrete.

_ He's gotta be the first to go. _

Krieg chuckled happily, ducking down and slinking away from the battlefield. 

"Eeheehee, sneaky, slippery, slithering in the dark of night…" 

_ Will you shut up? You're killing me, here.  _

Even the Little Man's discouraging complaining couldn't dampen Krieg's glee. True, he'd take a nice blood-charge over being crafty, but there was something tasty about stalking and taking his prey unaware. 

The battlefield was small. Most of the surrounding city already looked like it'd been bulldozed. Blown-out shopfronts, glass, tattered clothes, and other debris littered the streets. He hopped over a fallen power line, electricity still snapping and crackling periodically. 

The blockade Maliwan set up was tall and wide, made up of some kind of foam sprayed onto the ground that, once dry, set into a concrete-like substance. It was lumpy and irregular, which would provide good handholds. He approached from the outside of one and hopped up. 

Krieg was not graceful. Climbing up onto the blockade was more of a wild scramble, hands and feet clawing and scrabbling for purchase. Luckily, the sounds of screaming and gunfire covered up the noise of his climb. Once successfully to the top of the makeshift wall, he made his way toward where he could still see the Maliwan commander, watching from the back of the battlefield. Krieg hunched as he walked, nearly on all fours. Almost there. He could practically smell the arrogance wafting off of him. He settled behind the commander, atop the wall, and stilled himself. Like a stalker preparing an ambush. 

Figuring himself safe from the actual fighting, merely watching the tides of the battle, the commander was not especially aware of his surroundings. No need to look back, and certainly no reason to look up. 

Krieg launched himself off the wall, feet colliding with the commander's shoulders, hand palming the back of his helmet. He slammed him down onto the ground before he or his lieutenants could react. Krieg snarled as he slammed the commander's head down once, twice, three times, until the visor of his helmet filled with blood and he lay still. 

Bullets from one of his startled men tore through Krieg's shield and into his shoulder. Krieg staggered to his feet and lunged for one of them, swinging his axe and slicing through the armor over their stomach. They fell with a wet cry, clutching their belly to keep their organs from spilling out. 

Bullets bit into the meat of Krieg’s back and he roared in pain. He spun around and drew his shotgun on his assailant. His shield crackled, depleted, as he stood and fired. The shot blasted the man back off his feet and he hit the ground with an ugly thunk. Krieg kicked off the man's helmet and shoved the barrel of his gun into the man's mouth. The blast blew his head into chunks that splattered yards outward. Krieg watched and let out a bone deep cackle, wiping blood and bits of tissue off his face. 

"Turn… back," the soldier with the gut wound gurgled into their communicator. Their signal to the greater Maliwan force had been cut, but Krieg hadn't realized that didn't include local communications. "COV… turned on… us…." 

Krieg crouched in from of the soldier. "AW! YOU SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT YOUR MOP! NOW WHO'S GONNA CLEAN THIS MESS?" 

The soldier popped a bubble of blood from their mouth in response, then slumped. 

"Messy. Messy, messy, MESSY!" 

_ This could work for us. Yeah, this could work. Get your new friends and don't let Maliwan escape.  _

Krieg climbed back up the blockade to join back up with the bandits just as some of the Maliwan forces began to turn back. He slunk along the outside of the blockade and met up with a scattered fragment of the COV. 

The battlefield was chaos. Instead of retreating, most of the Maliwan team had turned their fire to the bandits. Confused and enraged and eager to spill any blood, the bandits also turned their attention to their erstwhile allies. The rebels were mostly forgotten with a new enemy facing each faction, an enemy now right in front of their faces rather than behind a barricade. 

"What gives?!" Mudguts cried, pumping a Maliwan soldier full of rounds. "Why are they shooting at us?!" 

With the rebels once more firing down on the now splintered faction, the two groups retreated. 

"Those assholes turned on us!" Mudguts bellowed. "GET 'EM! FOOD FOR THE TWIN GODS!" 

Krieg hooted at the top of his lungs. "HELLO WEASEL, HERE COMES THE BLOOD MONKEY! AHAHA, AROUND THE SKACTUS BUSH YOU GO!" 

What was a crippling defeat for both forces soon became a game of chase for Krieg and the other bandits. Krieg buried his axe in the back of a Maliwan soldier and bathed in the splatter that erupted. 

Soon, the bandits overtook the last of the Maliwan troops, despite their superior firepower and armor. Krieg wiped blood from his face with the back of his arm, flushed with excitement, his bloodlust temporarily sated. 

Mudguts, Krieg knew, would have to answer for what had happened tonight. The rest of the gang hardly looked like they'd lost at all; as long as they got to smash some heads (even if they were former allies), they were happy. 

Krieg walked with a little bounce in his step and satisfaction in his belly. 

_ Not bad, meat man. _

\--- 

Iron Bear fired a railway spike right through Captain Traunt's helmet. The heavy fell, leaving a scorched courtyard, five exhausted vault hunters, a skag, and one excitable teenager. 

"Whoa!" Ava cheered, running out from the cover she'd been forced, on threats of live burial and other unpleasantries, to take. "Moze, you spiked him right through the grey matter! That was so cool!" 

Moze grunted, ejecting from her mech as it folded in on itself, and hopped to the ground. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" She beamed and looked, unsubtly, at Amara. Amara responded with a good natured eye roll. "You got lucky. I softened him up for you." 

"That was all skill, man. Even though, yeah, you did kinda pummel him a little..." 

Maya hid a giggle-snort behind her hand at the look Moze aimed at Amara's muscled arms. 

"Aye, and the rest of us sat on our asses and watched. Can we open the damn thing already?" 

"Calm down, I'm working on it." Maya took a deep breath and stood before the massive door. She wasn't entirely sure how to approach it; Brother Harker hadn't been sure, either. After searching through the books she had with her and her archives on her echo, she still hadn't found anything concrete. 

Well, it was just a door. She should be able to figure this out. 

Her tattoos glowed as she focused on the door, conjuring a phaselock that enveloped the whole thing. 

Immediately, she felt a drain; this was a much larger lock than she generally had to use, and keeping it up was difficult. She felt a sheen of sweat on her forehead. She let out a slow, measured breath, trying to maintain her focus. 

Then, she felt it. Some sort of energy contained within the door itself, or… perhaps behind it? 

When she held something in the stasis of her lock, she was opening some sort of portal into another dimension; that much, she had learned of her powers. She could even summon inorganic forces from that dimension to unleash upon her enemies. The energy field of the Anchorhold seemed to be calling out to her, calling out to that dimension, reaching… 

Something told her to pull forth those same forces she used on her enemies. So, she did. 

Rather than raining down fire or acid or lightning, she felt as though she were constructing some sort of bridge between those extra-dimensional forces and the anchorhold's energy field. She'd felt nothing like it before. 

Then, the forces touched. 

She felt a strange, sharp power flow through her, then out her hands to the massive door. With a deafening crack, it began to shift. 

The others watched quietly as the hill-sized door rolled to the side, opening the ancient Anchorhold for the first time in centuries. 

"Holy shit," Maya breathed, stumbling a bit once she dropped the phaselock. 

"That was quite the light show," Fl4k remarked. 

"It sure was… something," Moze said. She rubbed her forearm. "Made my hair stand on end." 

"Let's not waste time," Amara cautioned. "Traunt is dead, but Maliwan may have more reinforcements to throw at us." 

They made their way inside, and a collective hush fell. The shrine was massive, more the size and scope of a natural cavern than a man made structure. Lining the walls were massive statues, nearly mountains themselves. The walls were stark and geometrical. There was some kind of script carved into the wall, one Maya couldn't read, or even hope to decipher. She had expected it to be dark, dusty, forboding. That opening the door would release some sort of ancient, noxious particles in the air. Instead, it smelt… clean. A crystalline stream cut through the middle, with little pools and falls branching off. Trees lined the walls, vibrant with life. Natural light streamed in from holes that had somehow been impossible to see from outside. The whole place seemed to glow with a soft, internal light source. 

It was… pristine. But how? Nobody had stepped foot in here for hundreds of years. 

"This place is incredible," Amara murmured. Quiet as she'd spoken, her voice echoed through the shrine. "It feels ancient. Older than a few centuries." 

Then, it hit Maya; this place was ancient, in a way that reminded her of the Vault of the Warrior. That place had radiated rage and grief, while the Anchorhold felt serene, holy, even. Still, there were irrefutable similarities in the design, the inscriptions. 

The Anchorhold wasn't man made at all. It was Eridian. 

They slowly made their way deeper inside, passing under a series of carvings on the walls. They were a striking blue, twisting and swirling over the stone like veins of precious ore. 

They looked like Siren markings.

At the same time that she had that realization, she felt a little tingling along her tattoos. She looked down to find them glowing softly, as though reacting to the magic that was still present in the Anchorhold. 

"...Whoa," she heard Amara, hushed, pausing in her exploration to stare at her own glowing arm. "This place feels… weird." She flexed her arms and rolled her shoulders. 

"Look, at the base of the statues, there," Fl4k said, following behind his skag, who'd made his way to a sort of pedestal at the foot of two massive statues. Held floating in stasis above the pedestal was a faintly glowing shard of stone; a vault key fragment. 

"Been a while since I've seen one of those," Maya said with a little half-grin. She'd been traveling with Axton, Zer0, Gaige, Salvador, and Krieg, then. The going had been harrowing, but she thought of it almost nostalgically. 

If only Krieg were here with her. She wondered what he'd say about this place. 

Amara stepped forward, Moze following close behind, to touch the fragment. Maya watched as it glowed brighter, then slowly broke from its stasis to float down into Amara's hands. 

"Whoa," said Amara once more. 

Maya glanced behind her, wanting to see Ava's reaction. She'd been so noisy and excitable the entire way here, and now, she was silent. She found that Ava had stopped meters behind them, frozen in place. She was gazing down at her left arm. 

Beneath her long sleeve, it was glowing. 

Maya's eyes widened and Ava looked up, meeting them. Maya opened her mouth to say something, her eyes drifting down to stare at the glow of her arm and her side. 

What were the odds…? 

**Hello, ah, Vault hunters! We have a situation involving a small fleet of Maliwan fighter ships! Perhaps you could make it to the nearest fast travel station and return? So that we do not meet our untimely demise in the vacuum of space. Oh, and Lilith says 'hi'.**

"The crazy doctor? Since when has she been able to do the creepy… projection thing?" Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Don't know, but we better get back to a station, or it's not gonna matter," Moze grunted, starting off the way they'd come with a little jog. The others started to follow. 

Maya met Ava's eyes again. The girl looked… a little afraid. Adrift, like she didn’t know where she belonged, how she fit into this new development. Then and there, Maya made a snap decision. 

"Come with us," she said. 

Ava's eyes widened. She looked at Maya at first with confusion, and then a dawning realization. Her sudden delight was palpable. "Whoa, you mean it? I get to come with you guys on your giant spaceship and be a Vault Hunter?"

"Yep. You'll learn more from us than the Order can ever teach you." She gave Ava's arm a pointed look. 

The monks of the Order said they had changed, and maybe they truly had. But, Maya was not about to give them an opportunity to manipulate and exploit another Siren kid. 

"Come on," Maya said with a broad grin, "let's get you to your new home." 

"Hell, yeah!" 


End file.
